Maybe you’ve noticed. Stone Soup publishes more writing by girls than by boys. This is not intentional. We would love to include an equal number of contributions by boys and girls in every issue. We can think of two reasons for the imbalance: 1) we receive more submissions from girls than from boys, and 2) many of the stories we receive by boys contain violence, which makes them inappropriate for Stone Soup. However, we do get some great writing by boys on themes that are appropriate for Stone Soup. This month’s featured story (July/August 2015 issue), Grandpa and the Chicken Coop, is a good example. Eleven-year-old Jack Zimmerman, who lives in New York City, is happiest when he is with his grandfather and they are building something together. But Grandpa lives in California and the two don’t get to see each other very often. Jack envies his cousin Logan, who lives closer to Grandpa. The story takes place during the summer after third grade, when at last Jack gets to visit Grandpa, and the two have a grand time building a chicken coop together. But that’s not what the story is really about. Over and over we learn how much Jack loves Grandpa, and why. “My grandpa is so great and does everything I like to do, and for that reason I love him so much,” says Jack, after a phone call with Grandpa that leaves him feeling sad that they are so far apart. Then, when the two finally get together and spend the day building the chicken coop, Jack realizes something: “Each time I would make a mistake he would correct me and teach me how to do it right. That was what I loved most about him during this project.” At the end of their perfect day, Jack gets to tell Grandpa how he feels: “Oh, Grandpa. I love you so much.” Jack is not afraid to express his feelings, and the result is a very touching story about the love between a boy and his grandfather. Not all boys (or girls, for that matter) would feel comfortable expressing these strong feelings. Maybe, like Jack, you have a family story you’d like to share with our readers. Or maybe you’re into fantasy, science fiction, or historical fiction. If your story has a strong plot, believable characters, and colorful descriptions, it is a good candidate for publication in Stone Soup. So, all you boys out there, get busy! We want to publish your work! Take the extra steps to polish your story by reading it over a few times, adding more detail where you think it’s needed and cutting any boring parts you find. No matter what genre you choose, base your characters on people you know, so their thoughts, feelings, and language are realistic. Use settings you’re familiar with, so you can capture the look, feel, and smell of a place. If you need to, ask your parents for help getting your story ready to send to Stone Soup, following our contributors’ guidelines. We’re eager to hear from you!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Poem by a Child, Age 12, Published in 1913 in St. Nicholas Magazine
Poem by a twelve-year-old published in 1913. This poem, A Song Of Home, is a poem written by a child age 12. Originally published in 1913 in the children’s magazine St. Nicholas it is a poem from another time. The poem starts, “Oh, pretty mate of the crimson breast,/Do you remember your little nest….” The poem goes on to speak of the robin living and loving in the cherry tree. I think to better appreciate this poem it is helpful to recall that it was written when writers of natural history routinely wrote about animals, birds, and insects as if they were characters with human attributes. You can open nearly any natural history from the early decades of the 20th century to find engaging stories about the creatures being discussed. It isn’t science writing as we have come to think of it, but it is what makes even encyclopedic works like Dawson’s birds of California (1923) refreshing reading today. The engagement natural history writers had with the creatures they studied as characters in life dramas informs classic works of children’s literature such as Wind in the Willows (1908). I think it is in this literary context that a poem such as A Song of Home should be understood. I realize that the language of this poem with its rhymes and its more ordered rhythm can be distancing. I suggest asking your students or your child to close their eyes when you read to them. Read it a couple times. Let the sound of the language speak for itself. A SONG OF HOME by Evadne Scott (age 12) Oh, pretty mate of the crimson breast, Do you remember your little nest, Far o’er the fields for miles and miles, Where the blue Pigeon River smiles? Soon I know you’ll be on the wing, To the old home, to build and sing; To live and love in the cherry-tree, With tiny birdlings, one, two, three. Carry for me a message dear – A song of home – and sing it near The window where I used to play, When you sing your song at break of day. Take it back to the cherry-tree Take it to your nestlings three; In among the blossoms sing, In among the flowers of spring. Back to my loved ones, dear as ever, Back to the old home by the river; Let me burden your tiny wing With the memories I long to bring.
Writing Activity: Adapting Story to Film
I found a project through Twitter for teaching students to think like a filmmaker. The project, for grades 6 to 8, is written by Judy Storm Fink and is published at the NCTE website, readwritethink.org. The project title is You Know the Movie is Coming—Now What?. This is a complex project with lots of supplementary material. As someone who sees very few movies I think that the ability to teach this as written would depend in part your own familiarity with the books and movies discussed. Some experience as a filmmaker would also be helpful. That said, this is a well thought out project which will, at the least, offer you lots of ideas for getting your students to think about the difference between telling a story with words and telling a story through video. The hook for the assignment as Fink proposes it is that there will soon be a movie released based on a familiar book. Given how easy it is to show a movie in class I don’t think it necessary to tie this project into a topical new release. Perhaps my biggest critique of this project is that its goals are too narrow. I see this project as a way of getting kids to understand that thinking about filmmaking helps them think about the mechanics of storytelling in general. It teaches that your perspective as an author changes as you change formats of any kind, whether that is a change from poem to short story — short store to novella — novella to novel — or words to video. Along with changes in perspective that format changes entail, so too there are changes in the literary devises used to tell the story. Fink’s project focus on the technical devices of moviemaking. This is the project’ s strength but also I think its weakness. To teach the methods of filmmaking without being a filmmaker will be difficult. Two lists are provided, one (the online list) more detailed than the other. Many of the terms are complex in that they suggest a world of possibilities. From the online list I offer ellipsis by way of example: A term that refers to periods of time that have been left out of the narrative. The ellipsis is marked by an editing transitions which, while it leaves out a section of the action, none the less signifies that something has been elided. Thus, the fade or dissolve could indicate a passage of time, a wipe, a change of scene and so on. A jump cut transports the spectator from one action and time to another, giving the impression of rapid action or of disorientation if it is not matched. You could spend many writing projects on the ellipsis in a written narrative. The transposition to film is clearly complicated. This brief introduction to the concept lists five different cinematic techniques for implementing an ellipsis. Overall, I’d slow this project down, and simplify the exploration of cinematic technique. I’d work with one scene in one story and explore different ways — different cinematic techniques — that could be used to tell that story. In the same way, one might take that same passage and turn it into a poem which would make it possible to speak about the techniques of poetry as a literary form in the context of this project which requires students to think about the how of storytelling more than the what of the story. Lastly, making a film ought to be one of the possible products of the assignment. Take a look at our resources for young filmmakers pages to give your students some ideas about how they might do this.
